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DO ANTS SMELLS?

Smell the ants have developed nearly as well as the dogs! The senses (and touch) are located in their antennae.

The smell for the ants is much more important than the view that they are generally bad. Blinded with ant antennae can get home. Ant, devoid of antennae, loses the ability to find their way to the nest, ceases to recognize adults and larvae of their own species, is not involved in construction. Normal behavior it immediately and completely broken.

Stirring tendrils, ant sniffs and puts all counter objects. Smell the ants get to know "their" and "outsiders", by smell traces find their way to the anthill.

The sense of smell plays an important role in the lives of social insects such as ants, because they used a system of chemical signaling. Ants use some chemicals are not only for communication but also for the development of certain patterns of behavior, as well as the allocation of public functions between members of the colonies. These chemical substances called pheromones. The pheromones have the ability to cause certain reactions in other animals of the same species.

For example, fire ants (Solenopsis geminata), who found food on the way back to the nest distinguish "taps traces, so that other ants can find their way to food. After 2 minutes the pheromone evaporates, and so the ants can't knock the right way older tracks. Disturbed ants also produce special substances, playing the role of a kind of fire bells: they act as an alarm signal to the other ants nearby.